Popular conjecture and academic theorizing about Middle Eastern women's agency has a long history. Early writings reinforced essentializing, orientalizing stereotypes by portraying women as passive victims both of patriarchal systems and individual (stereotypically brutal) men (Mohanty 1988). Subsequent research sought to uncover instances of women's agency in the face of constraints on their freedom (Abu-Lughod 1986; Atiya 1982; Davis 1983; Early 1993; Fernea 1985; Wikan 1991). They focused on identifying the conceptual and practical resources available to women, and the ways that women appropriate them in support of their own interests. Women were seen as resisting male-centered cultural hegemony either by carving out space apart from men (e.g., in language and poetry, weaving, or cult possession), or by enacting small rebellions within gender-unequal structures, acts which often had the unintentional and paradoxical effect of reproducing the very inequality they were meant to upset (see Boddy 1989; Brusco 1995; Hale 1987; Hegland 1998; Macleod 1991; Torab 1996). In the case I will describe, a number of pious Muslim women have improved their life circumstances, and in many cases, improved those of other women, not by resisting dominant norms, but by adopting and perfecting the very ideals and practices that on the surface appear to limit them. A growing grassroots Islamic piety movement has taken root Egypt over the past few decades. Women have been at the forefront of this, fostering religious education and life transformation among growing cadres of women. Significantly, the forms of practice and belief they adopt: dominant, orthodox, textual, "masculine" brand of Islamic practice, lend them a new legitimacy and levels the spiritual and social playing field. Many of the women in this movement "do" piety better, even, than their male counterparts. They become models of pious practice, spending hours every day in prayer, study and acts of da'wa and charity. The legitimacy of the form, and the women's self-discipline and accomplishment, place them above scrutiny. And yet, the effects for individual women, and for larger society, are complicated. The creed the pious women have embraced, and the practices they have perfected, have opened up new avenues for spiritual, social and psychological expression and gratification. At the same time, they have circumscribed their actions in a variety of ways. This paper will examine this complex, complicated moral and religious project, its sociopolitical implications, and the benefits and drawbacks for individual women's lives.